Viracocha worshiper / SUN 9-9-12 / Rescuer of Mowgli in Jungle Book / 1972 Jack Lemmon comedy / Mount Narodnaya's locale / Pinocchio keepsake / Potsdam attendee / Cheap cigar in slang / Mythical figure in Vermeer's Art of Painting / Co-explorer of 1804 / Decorative Valentine's Day gift / Oenophile's specification / Pride Lands queen

Constructor: Kevin G. Der

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: "Circling the Job Listings" — all theme answers open with an ellipsis + "and [the next theme answer:" and then feature a phrase from an imagined job description, one that might apply (usually in play-on-words fashion) to both this theme answer and the next theme answer.

Word of the Day: ARMET (99D: Medieval helmet) —

Armet (in Hungarian: Csőrsisak "peaked helmet") is the name of a type of helmet developed in the 15th century, most likely in Italy, France, Spain and Hungary. It was distinguished by being the first helmet of its era to completely enclose the head while being compact and light enough to move with the wearer. The typical armet consisted of four pieces: the skull, the two hinged cheek pieces which lock at the front, and the visor. A multi-part reinforcement for the bottom half of the face, known as a wrapper, was sometimes added, and its straps attached to a metal disc at the base of the skull piece called a rondel. (wikipedia)

• • •

This puzzle was as annoying to solve as it is to try to describe. Interlocking job descriptions. "This phrase could refer to this job or the next job ... that you haven't gotten to yet." There are several reasons why this isn't pleasurable from a solving angle. First, whatever connection you're supposed to see or get is always ahead of you (assuming you solve from the top down, which is not uncustomary). And even if it's not, it's always at least partially somewhere else. So there's not an "aha" with each theme answer. There's more a kind of grinding "... oh ... OK," and that's only *if* you bother to stop, with each theme answer and look at both its own clue *and* the one that came before, which is just a Lot of stop / look / relook / see. Too fussy. Further, there's not enough of a humor payoff. Nothing is very funny. I can see that it took a lot of thought to put this together, but there's no payoff on my end. It's only now that I'm done that, should I care to, I can go back and, in order, look at the clues and answers and appreciate the overlap. The disconnect between moment of successful answer and moment of sufficient appreciation is only exacerbated by the fact that this puzzle is deliberately clued in a very, very difficult manner. 50% tougher than your average Sunday. So now the theme is annoying *and* I'm really having to struggle to pick it up. Struggle is Great when payoff is ... something. Here, I didn't think it was. So this is very well constructed, for what it is. I just didn't appreciate what it was. Not a horrific experience. Just not very entertaining.
Theme answers:

• 23A: ... and 33-Across: "must wear gloves in the field" (BASEBALL PLAYER)
• 33A: ... and 50-Across: "experienced in conducting surveys for sites"(ARCHAEOLOGIST)
• 50A: ... and 62-Across: "may be tasked with generating impressions" (ONLINE MARKETER)
• 62A: ... and 69-Across: "excellent filing skills required" (METALWORKER)
• 69A: ... and 86-Across: "focused on improving circulation" (LIBRARY PAGE) — I had honestly never heard this term. SENATE PAGE, yes, but not LIBRARY PAGE. I couldn't understand (at first) why part of a book was an acceptable theme answer ...
• 86A: ... and 96-Across: "willing to open chests and work on vessels" (CARDIAC SURGEON)
• 96A: ... and 112-Across: "strong, disciplined hands a must" (PIRATE CAPTAIN)
• 112A: ... and 23-Across: "should be comfortable sitting on the bench" (CONCERT PIANIST)

Trouble right off the bat with [Japanese bowlful]. UDON? MISO? Nope, SOBA. Also, no idea re: NALA (19D: Pride Lands queen) or BOB FLY (5D: Fishing line equipment). SPAT for RIFT (42A: Friends' feud). HAW is a [Shout from a field]? Is that a shout to a donkey?  Ugh. Biggest sticking point for me, however, was over in the east, where NEON LAMP (12D: It might say "ATM Here") meets PAH (41A: "Hogwash!"). Neither one felt right to me. I don't think of a NEON SIGN as a LAMP. Couldn't commit to it. And the last time I said PAH was ... there, just now. Had COSMONAUT instead of COSMIC RAY (44A: Space traveler?), so, yeah, just a train wreck there for a while. Everywhere else was just thorny. Never got a good flow going. If the theme had been satisfying, I would not have minded this at all. But it wasn't. So I did.

Bullets:

• 18A: Big fairy (OBERON) — I think he's "big" as in "famous" (and as in "powerful," i.e. king of the fairies).
• 22A: Cheap cigar, in slang (EL ROPO) — xwords have forced me to learn my cigar terminology. It has also forced me, much against my will, to learn the names of the stupid characters on stupid "Desperate Housewives." This show should immediately be placed in the crossword clue dustbin (where "Ally McBeal" now resides thanks to my vociferousness).
• 39A: Groucho's real name (JULIUS) — news to me. Also Caesar's real name. Also [All-Pro defensive end Peppers]. Etc.
• 54A: Potsdam attendee (STALIN) — at one point, when I had just the "L," I wanted this to be ATTLEE. This is crosswordbrain.
• 56A: Viracocha worshiper (INCA) — there should be a word for "insane-looking clue with totally ordinary / familiar answer." "Viracocha" is my first candidate.
• 65A: Mythical figure represented in Vermeer's "The Art of Painting" (CLIO) — Hmm. Thought she was the muse of history. And Advertising. Interesting.
• 105A: Walsh with three golds in beach volleyball (KERRI) — weird, I think, that this unusual spelling can have, as a valid clue, (at least) two different U.S. gold medalists.

• 107A: Rescuer of Mowgli in "The Jungle Book" (KA'A) — I wrote in KIM. This seemed totally unimpeachable to me.
• 119A: 1972 Jack Lemmon comedy ("AVANTI") — uh ... wow. What? I'm guessing this was not, how you say, a "hit."
• 36D: What the French once called "la Belle Rivière" (OHIO) — right in the middle of my train-wreck section. I think I had OISE at first.
• 40D: Mount Narodnaya's locale (URALS) — total Viracocha.
• 43D: "Dance at Bougival" painter (RENOIR) — this is where the word "boogie" comes from. Or so I want to believe.
• 46D: Co-explorer of 1804 (CLARK) — I was so distracted by the odd word "co-explorer" that this one actually, embarrassingly, took me a while.
• 49D: Oenophile's specification (YEAR) — oddly, this clue was transparent to me. You can make YEAR much tougher if that's what you're after.
• 84D: Player of TV's Det. Tutuola (ICE-T) — I learned this from PuzzleGirl. I think she clued ICE-T this way in a puzzle we wrote together once.
• 85D: Decorative Valentine's Day gift (LOVE KNOT) — I assume this is some form of jewelry? I know the term only from "Hot You're Cool," the opening song on General Public's 1984 album "... all the rage."

• 113D: "Pinocchio" keepsake (CEL) — super-confusing. I thought perhaps there was some "keepsake" in the movie that I wasn't remembering. Pah!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld